Technology has taken over fishing the last few years and its rapid advancement has resulted in two things: fish are becoming more wary and baits are shrinking in size. Finesse fishing is the name of the game now, and the little minnow on a jighead deal has probably caught more fish in the last two years than any other bait out there.
The idea of flicking a fry out and shaking my rod tip all day just doesn’t appeal to me though. I’ve done it before. And it is interesting and addicting. But give me a spinnerbait or a topwater and a shot at two or three good bites a day and I’d rather do that.
I say all that to emphasize that I’m not that big of a fan of finesse fishing. But when a small bait comes along that I can incorporate into my style of fishing — that also flat out catches them — I am willing to humble myself enough to pick it up and throw it. And that is what I’ve found in the Shimano BT Bait 99.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I was more than a little taken aback by this bait’s small stature when it arrived in the mail. Funny story: Shimano had offered to send some product out for testing, so I went on their site and did some digging. This was four or five months ago and I was pretty fired up about big bait fishing at the time. Looking at the BT Bait 99 on their site (with nothing in the images to gauge its size by) I honestly thought this was a 7- or 8-inch swimbait.
Now, with three quarters of a mechanical engineering degree and the knowledge that Shimano is based in Japan it should have clicked with me that they use the metric system and the “99” likely indicated the bait’s length in millimeters. But that dang metric system has always presented me with problems; I got duped into running a 10k last year because those k’s didn’t sound all that intimidating. Had my wife asked me to run 6.2 miles on the other hand, that would have been a pretty strong incentive to bow out of that race before it began.
After the initial shock of seeing this little nugget in person and the chuckle that came along afterwards, I pulled the bait from the pack and took a closer look at it. It’s understandable that I assumed this bait was bigger when I was looking at the closeups of it online — this thing has amazing detail to it. Little scales are etched into the body of the bait while flakes of iridescent colors reflect light in every direction. This is a beautiful little bait with meticulously crafted minute features.
FEATURES OF THE SHIMANO BT BAIT 99
The Shimano BT Bait comes in two different versions: a slow sinking (SS) model and a floating (F) model. Both are 99 millimeters long, which comes out to roughly 3.9 inches — not 8. This is a jointed bait with three hard sections and a super stretchy and durable replaceable soft plastic tail. The bait comes with two additional tails to use as replacements if needed.
This removable and replaceable tail is my favorite feature of the BT Bait 99. It’s made of something similar to Z-Man’s ElaZtech material. You can stretch the tail out to several times its natural length without it tearing or detaching from the bait. And, if it finally does get destroyed or lost, you have a couple spares to fall back on.
Shimano’s Scale Boost technology is to be credited with the ridiculously lifelike look of this bait. Best I can tell from the outside looking in, there are two small beads in the belly of the bait to balance it out and add a little sound. The hooks are small but super sharp and adequately sized for the bait. The sinking version of the BT Bait weighs 1/4 ounce, while the floating version comes in slightly less at 1/5 ounce.
ON THE WATER
I actually got both the SS and F models of the bait for testing, but spent most of my time fishing with the sinking version. The floating one has the same action as the sinking one, but I like being able to fish this bait just a little further beneath the surface than the floating version allows. On a steady or semi-steady retrieve, the SS version still stays within a foot of the surface. But the floating version truly does float, so it just swims right along the top.
With the SS version weighing a touch more at 1/4 ounce, I also found it easier to cast. I fished it on both a baitcaster and a spinning combo and had good luck with each. This bait could be cast a fair distance and accurately with the Lew’s LFS Speed Spool rigged with 12-pound Seaguar InvizX and the SPRO RkCrawler Crankbait Casting Rod (a medium action 7’2” finesse cranking rod). I think you could do even more with it using bait finesse gear. And the bait performed really well on spinning gear too, which would likely be the best option for most anglers to pair with this bait.
As far as the action goes, it’s sick. On a steady retrieve the BT Bait has a beautiful swimming action similar to what you’d see out of a Sebile or Berkley Magic Swimmer. And you can burn it back without it blowing out, maintaining that perfect swimming action at full speed. When you pause the bait, the forward motion immediately stops and the bait slowly drifts to one side. This same action can be generated repeatedly by twitching the bait along; it behaves a lot like a lipless jerkbait in that scenario.
I mentioned being able to incorporate this bait into the way I already like to fish. This is the perfect bait to keep on deck when I fish down the bank so that I have something to throw at schoolers. Around where I live here in Alabama, you’ll often have a fish blow up near the boat, any time of the year. But they’re usually chasing something really small, so throwing a big Spook at them is a total waste of time, usually.
But if you throw the BT Bait within a few feet of where a fish boils, you’re almost guaranteed to catch them. I’ve caught several bass doing this, but no big ones yet. However I did have one trip where I saw a fish repeatedly making ripples on the surface. I trolled over and could see what looked like a big shad struggling on the surface and a bigger fish smacking it. I threw the BT Bait over and a 7-pound striped bass smoked it. After a long and drawn out battle, I eased the striper into the boat and was very pleased to learn the tiny hooks on this bait stood up to a stout challenge.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE BT BAIT 99
I think every bass angler could benefit from having one of these in the tackle box. The BT Bait 99 is a phenomenal bait for small water fishing I’m sure, like creeks and ponds. But its application on the big water is what I’m most impressed by. Fish that I have been unable to catch in the past are now catchable. If I can make an accurate cast quickly, I can catch 90% of the fish that show themselves now. That’s how effective this bait is.
This lure does cost nearly 20 bucks. But I have thoroughly abused my SS version and it’s still swimming smoothly. I’ve caught 20 bass or so on it and that one good striper. But I am on my third tail now and just added a fresh set of hooks. I like this bait a lot, and I think it’s a sleeper for Shimano that will do really well for any angler who takes a chance on it.
